Noel 'Bob' Robbins, Tesco chief operating officer sold 50,000 shares before the stock slumped on weak Christmas trading
Tesco boss Philip Clarke authorised a share sale by chief operating officer 'Bob" Robbins, days before stock slumped on weak trading figures.
Modern retailers receive detailed sales data at the end of every day so Noel "Bob" Robbins, UK chief operating officer at Tesco, surely knew on 4 January that the chain had had a lousy Christmas. That was the day he sold 50,000 shares in his employer at 404.5p apiece. One profits warning later, Tesco's share price is 316p, so Robbins is about £44,000 better off by selling eight days ago rather than on Friday.
Tesco says Robbins has done nothing wrong. And, by the letter of the book, he hasn't. On 4 January there were no restrictions on share sales by senior Tesco employees – or persons discharging managerial responsibilities (PDMR), as the regulatory handbook has it. The so-called "close" period for share trades by PDMRs started three days later. But common sense says that Robbins should have found another way to meet his pressing need for £200,000 for "necessary family expenditure."
Tesco argues that it wasn't only weak Christmas sales that contributed to plunge in the share price on 12 January. The lowering of profits guidance for the year ahead and the rejig to investment plans (stuff apparently unknown to Robbins on 4 January) were the "primary" causes, it claims. But, come on, the share price would surely still have fallen (albeit maybe not as heavily) if Tesco had published only bald Christmas sales numbers on Thursday – the figures were worse than the market had feared.
Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke authorised Robbins' sale himself. That was an error of judgement. He should have told Robbins to get a bridging loan, advising his underling that banks are still lending £200k to executive high-flyers who can offer collateral in the form of £4m-worth of Tesco shares.
The fact that Robbins sold only 5% of his holding suggests that this wasn't an attempt to make a killing. But the timing was appalling. Shareholders should rightly be furious and will ask what on earth Clarke thought he was doing in giving approval for a share sale that would inevitably cause a stink. The rules were obeyed, but common sense left the building.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2012/jan/13/tesco-executive-share-sale?newsfeed=true
Tesco says Robbins has done nothing wrong. And, by the letter of the book, he hasn't. On 4 January there were no restrictions on share sales by senior Tesco employees – or persons discharging managerial responsibilities (PDMR), as the regulatory handbook has it. The so-called "close" period for share trades by PDMRs started three days later. But common sense says that Robbins should have found another way to meet his pressing need for £200,000 for "necessary family expenditure."
Tesco argues that it wasn't only weak Christmas sales that contributed to plunge in the share price on 12 January. The lowering of profits guidance for the year ahead and the rejig to investment plans (stuff apparently unknown to Robbins on 4 January) were the "primary" causes, it claims. But, come on, the share price would surely still have fallen (albeit maybe not as heavily) if Tesco had published only bald Christmas sales numbers on Thursday – the figures were worse than the market had feared.
Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke authorised Robbins' sale himself. That was an error of judgement. He should have told Robbins to get a bridging loan, advising his underling that banks are still lending £200k to executive high-flyers who can offer collateral in the form of £4m-worth of Tesco shares.
The fact that Robbins sold only 5% of his holding suggests that this wasn't an attempt to make a killing. But the timing was appalling. Shareholders should rightly be furious and will ask what on earth Clarke thought he was doing in giving approval for a share sale that would inevitably cause a stink. The rules were obeyed, but common sense left the building.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2012/jan/13/tesco-executive-share-sale?newsfeed=true
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